We survived Disney with 2 toddlers and you can too! May 2011 TR

[Lidian]

The Wishing Ceremony sounds really sweet!

Major grats on your adults only US trip! (And how exciting to see WDW at Christmas in 2013!)

 

[amyrella]

Yay!! We were at magic kingdom the same day and had the same princesses at CRT! Can't wait to read more

 

[mtgirl29]

OH WOW! Just got caught up on your TR. It is fabulous. Could your girls be any more cute? I don't think so!! Where to begin? Sorry to hear about Alexis getting ill in the car. I have my own Disney sickness story on this vacay. It will be towards the end of my TR. You both are brave parents staying at 4 different places with toddlers. That must have been a lot of work! We moved around with lodging a bit on this vacation and I was pulling my hair out and I don't even have toddlers.
The girls looked soooo adorable in their princess dresses and I loved the way Ariel got on the floor to interact. I had the peeing thing happen to me before, too. When you are a mom, you just go with the flow. Remember the spit-up when the kids were newborns. In the first few years of their life it always seemed like I had some kind of body fluid on my clothes. Just part of being a mom. I have to agree about the white noise machine. I brought ours this time and it helps to drown out Hubs snoring as well, , so I could actually get some sleep.
I must say I am very impressed with all the pics you have included thus far and cannot wait to read more. I am addicted. Great job!!!!

 

[PixieMama]

I've been away for a week and am now trying to catch up...

 

[PixieMama]

OK, I'm all caught up now!

Sounds like you had a great first day at MK. Except for the part where you got peed on, LOL!

 

[sahm2two]

I'm finally back to finish Day 1... it's been busy around here with summer activities

When we left off we had skipped naps and took a ride on the train to try to let Kaitlyn sleep... which didn't work. Fortunately her 10 minute nap was enough to get her back in a good mood. After the train ride we had a little bit of time left before our 3:30 ADR at Crystal Palace. We headed over to Futureland. Not really sure why, maybe just to grab fast passes for later? While we were there Kaitlyn spotted someone!

Chip and Dale! The line wasn't too bad, so we waited to meet them.

After Chip and Dale we headed to Crystal Palace. We checked in (which took a couple minutes standing in line) and they gave us a pager. It probably only took about 5 minutes to be called back. Alexis really liked being in charge of the pager, and we spent that 5 minutes looking in the window at all the characters. The girls were excited!

There weren't any characters around when we sat down, so I went and got my food and some for the girls, and then Andrew went to get his. They brought each of the girls a milk (free of charge which is nice! we expected them to get food for free, being under 3, but thought we'd have to pay for drinks).
When I came back, Eeyore was already at our table and Andrew was trying to juggle taking pictures with holding Kaitlyn, so I sat down quickly and took over with Alexis.

I did manage to snap a few pictures of our food here.
my plate-

I love chicken fingers and I thought these were really good. Not the best I've ever had, but good. Andrew really liked their southwest corn souffle (I think that's what it was called). I didn't get a picture of his plate though.
the girls' plates looked the same-

Alexis really liked the mashed potatoes (I thought they were good too)

Overall the food here was pretty good. It's a buffet, so it's not 4 star dining, but I don't think it's as bad as a lot of people say in their TR or dining reviews. It's better than a Ryan's or Golden Corral buffet I thought.

Next up was Piglet, Kaitlyn started playing peekaboo with him while he was at the table next to us-

this Piglet was SO good. He spent a lot of time at our table and interacted with the girls, they loved him.

Pooh was up next-

Oh! I lied, I took a picture of my 2nd plate which has the corn souffle on it. Andrew loved it, I didn't think it was that great. I didn't eat much of it. I really liked the chicken fingers and mashed potatoes though

For desserts I got Alexis a little bowl of icecream with sprinkles, and this plate for the rest of us to share-

The little cannoli was chocolate cream and really good. I think I was too full to each much else. Andrew had a cookie.

We kept waiting and waiting for Tigger, but I guess we had just missed him when we sat down? He was in the lobby taking pics with only a couple people in line, so we did that.

After dinner we headed back to Futureland to ride Buzz... really fun ride! Andrew kicked my butt... by like 100,000 points I guess all those hours logged on the xbox comes in handy?

continued in the next post!

 

[sahm2two]

the People Mover was a walk on (which I think it normally is, but we saw a line a few times!) so we hopped on

We headed in to see the Monster's Inc show next.

I've read a lot of positive reviews about this one. I didn't think it was that great Maybe it's better with more audience participation? I just thought it was kinda cheesy...

By this point it was a little before 7, so we headed out. On our way out we used our FPs for Mickey in the Magician's tent. I don't have it written down when we got these, so your guess is as good as mine We waited for about 10 minutes, which we thought was funny because the standby time posted was 10 min. and we used FPs oh well, not long to wait for Mickey.

The people behind us offered to take a family pic while we were waiting

Kaitlyn really liked his big ears!

playing peekaboo

high 5!

one more hug and high 5, then we left

We looked around the gift shop, and Alexis tried on the goofy ears... again.

When we got back to the hotel Alexis was asleep. She didn't wake up when I got her out of the carseat, and she stayed asleep when I put her in bed. She was out cold. I put Kaitlyn in her pack and play and she fell right to sleep. Andrew got the car unpacked (remember we're still on day 1, we checked in and went straight to CRT) and I got the room all set up, suitcases unpacked, and.... window decorated!

We also had this waiting on our bed when we first got there, but I moved it before I remembered to take a pic-

I hadn't seen a minnie mouse towel before, I thought she was cute! It was the only towel anything we got that week.

 

[PrincessAmongPrinces]

I really enjoyed reading your trip report! It was good to read about traveling with younger children, and your TR brought up a lot of good points to consider! I also loved all of your pictures. Your girls are beautiful!

 

[ctink23]

Looks like you had a great time at Crystal Palace! The pictures, especially with Piglet, are so good! Piglet was really playful!

Question - what do you think Chip and Dale are dressed as? I can't really tell (though I have seen them in these outfits before).

 

[sahm2two]

I'm thinking Chip and Dale are space men or aliens? They're in future land in those outfits, so that's my best guess Alexis never really noticed the different costumes the characters had, so I never had to explain

 

[mrssmith06]

I've somehow missed your TR until now I just got all caught up! Your girls are so adorable and it looks like they had a blast!!

 

[PixieMama]

We've only done breakfast at CP, so good to hear (and see!) that the lunch/dinner food is yummy!

Your window decoration looks great... love all the colorful Mickey heads!

 

[lbuzz52]

What a great time at CP! Th pics of the characters and the girls are really sweet. Alexis really seems to love that hat

 

[Lidian]

Ack! Somehow I missed your update!

Totally love that you guys saw Chip & Dale Space Rangers!!!!!! We have NEVER seen Chip & Dale in the parks. Let alone, Space Rangers! Jealous!

I've heard nothing but wonderful things about CP. Glad you can vouch for it as well. I tried to get a CP ADR for this year, but it wasn't in the cards. But that's for next year, right?

Sorry that you guys didn't enjoy Monsters Inc. I think we saw it 3 or 4 times total our visit. It was definitely our most seen attraction - and certainly a family favorite. Some of the jokes are cheesey ... but we still laugh - and sometimes laugh so hard we cry.

Love your pics with Mickey! They are so adorable!

Your window looks awesome! I wish I had gotten creative ... but never thought about decorating our window. Next year, right?

 

[emma212010]

Great updates! I'm glad you enjoyed CP! We love their breakfast! Your DDs are too cute! Their princess breakfast was also very sweet! I always lose on Buzz too! Your girls were adorable meeting Mickey!! I love your window! My mom always decorates ours too! I'm glad you had a fun first day!!

 

[PoohGal05]

I am enjoying your trip report so much! Our family has only ever done Crystal Palace for breakfast. This year since we are doing the dining plan, we decided to do as a late lunch/early dinner in addition to breakfast! I was glad to see mac and cheese in your photos. My son loves mac and cheese!

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[Belle83]

Such cute character pics! The ones with piglet are especially cute.

 

[cindianne320]

Your trip report is so great, as I have a little one, too!!! Thanks for all the helpful tips- he was only 1 when we went last time, but will be 3-4 next time!

Where did you get all the cute window decorations?! Love them!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[sahm2two]

Your trip report is so great, as I have a little one, too!!! Thanks for all the helpful tips- he was only 1 when we went last time, but will be 3-4 next time!

Where did you get all the cute window decorations?! Love them!

Can't wait to read more!

The mickey heads are paint samples from Home Depot, I just cut the mickey heads off (after "borrowing" the samples ). The rest of the stuff came from the Creative DISigns board here Shadow Writer (too lazy to go look for the actual screen name, but it's something along those lines) did most of the personalized ones, and then I found a few random ones on other people's photobuckets. Great group of people over there!

 

[dekkerdisneydreamer]

Hi Sara,
I just joined your TR and will be eagerly awaiting your next update. I love your title, it attracted me immediately. I have a one year old at home and she'll be 16 months old when we take our first family trip in October. I love that you're posting "lessons learned". It's really helpful to see those, so thank you!

Your girls are awesome with the characters (not to mention they are adorable!), they don't seem to be afraid of them at all! I hope that trend continues through the trip.